The next quarter could see an acceleration of these losses. Moffett says his prediction of 3% long-term pay-TV subscriber losses might not hold. “Will those losses
accelerate to 4%, 5% or even 6% per year? There is, unfortunately, no road map.”

Analysts had estimated the business could lose anywhere from 1 million to 1.2 million pay TV
subscribers.

Dish Network, which was one of the last reporting pay-TV providers, sank 196,000 in the period, which was a bit better than analysts expected. Still, it wasn't good news
overall.

Eagan says Dish's pay-TV business
will continue to be impacted by ongoing subscriber loss and EBITDA [earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization] margin pressure. That's due to "higher program costs, broadband
investment and continued cost initiatives at Sling, a necessity due to the increasingly competitive OTT environment.”

While noticing that subscribers are leaving is important, it's more important to discover why they're leaving and where they're going. It's a very old song, but those who should know the lyrics never seem to remember them.